When it comes to a certain issue, I think I must be a dinosaur watching the glacier edge my way, or a Model T driver out on the Interstate. The glacier will eventually overtake me when I can no longer out run it, and in this situation, there's no optional vehicle I would find acceptable.
The issue is what I see as a major sign of our moral decline, the increased use and acceptance of profanity.
I try to avoid it where ever and whenever I can. And last night, I made a major avoidance decision. I was settling in for the opening of the annual Blue & Gold Tournament at Fatima High School, Westphalia, Mo. I started following the Lady Comets, home and away, with that very tournament in January of 2000. $3 per night for two games of basketball in a warm gym? You couldn't beat it!
I cut my teeth on small-town basketball while living up north in Memphis, Mo., where high school basketball is a community event. Friday nights usually featured a fundraiser of a soup/chili supper, complete with dessert. Although they didn't have the suppers, I happened upon Fatima and enjoyed a great decade.
In my observation, girls' basketball is a bit like chess: you can see the plays (moves) forming. It can be fast, but it's fast with a purpose – not the racing up and down the court of the boys' game.
I've had a decade of enjoyment with the Lady Comets, but it came to an end last night. During the warm ups for the opening game, the music was loud — I suppose that has to be accepted as the youngsters look up to the adults, and I understand the NBA "entertainment" is almost as much music as sport — and angry. That's how I describe the type of rap/hip hop music where the rappers shout out threats and boasts in a usually hateful, sing-song rhyme.
I can put up with it, usually, and I guess the players like it. But when "Get Buck" by Akon came on, that was it. That one, administrators of Fatima High School, is profane. Shame on you for allowing it. Shame on you players for selecting it to be played in front of your guests, who if you haven't checked the stands, range in age from 8 days to over 80 years.
Maybe I'm a prude, but this dinosaur is packing up his Model T and seeking greener pastures. I won't be expecting "Sweet Georgia Brown," but I'll accept nothing less than a far slower decline in our moral fabric.
